The previous chapter reviewed some of the measures and initiatives taken by British governments since the 1980s to improve the effectiveness and accountability of public sector organisations, focusing on the work of inspectorates. A great deal of time is now spent in institutions such as schools, hospitals, universities, the police, local government, and many agencies in the voluntary sector in preparing for inspections by different central agencies. However, although this is the most dramatic side of quality assurance, it does not fully convey the extent of the cultural shift that has taken place in organisations, the procedures and practices involved or the overlap between different forms of regulation and self-assessment. This chapter describes in more detail the quality assurance procedures and systems employed in three institutions, a ‘new’ and ‘old’ university and a police force. It will also make some observations on the different perspectives of managers and professionals towards professional work. To begin with, however, it considers the growth of management as an occupation in recent times.

The growth of public sector management

Management has been the fastest-growing occupation in mature industrial societies for the last century (Mintzberg, 1973; Salaman, 1995). Public and private sector organisations have grown massively during this period, as the number of workers required to produce goods and services has been reduced, so ever more managers and administrators are required to process information and organise the production process. Frederick Taylor (1990), the founder of scientific management, argued in the 1930s that it would be cost-effective to employ three technical experts for each labourer in a brick yard: this would increase both output and quality through ensuring that the materials were in the right place at the right time, and workers’ bodies were used effectively.

Although it would be hard to find an organisation where managers and administrative staff outnumber workers to this degree, management has grown in the way Taylor predicted.